Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney get a colonoscopy on camera to raise awareness

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney get a colonoscopy on camera to raise awareness
CNN   — 

It was a first for actor Ryan Reynolds, who else allowed a video crew to capture their colonoscopy screening upon camera to raise understanding of the increase in colon malignancy diagnoses among people under 50. Colorectal malignancy is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer in the usa, based on the American Cancer Society.

“It’s not every day that you could raise awareness about something that will most definitely save lives. That is enough motivation to let you in on the camera being shoved up my a–, ” Reynolds said in the video they shared with the public.

“Did they find Rosebud up presently there? ” Reynolds asks a nurse once the procedure is over.

Actor Rob McElhenney, who seem to created and was seen in the long-running humor “It’s Always Sunlit in Philadelphia, ” teamed up with Reynolds on the project as well as underwent a videotaped colonoscopy.

“If these people find a polyp, it is either bigger than their – which is awesome – or it’s smaller than his, which means I have much less of an opportunity to possess cancer. Either way We win, ” McElhenney told the digital camera while waiting for their procedure.

While kidding around and poking fun at each some other, Reynolds and McElhenney made it clear they were there to raise consciousness about new guidelines lowering the age of colon screening through 50 to 45.

“Rob and I each, we turned 45 this year, ” Reynolds said in the video. “And you know, component of being this age group is getting a colonoscopy. It’s a simple phase that could literally – and I mean, actually – save your living. ”

Reynolds’ treatment, done by CBS Chief Medical Correspondent Jonathan LaPook, led to the discovery associated with a small polyp in the actor’s intestinal tract.

“You did such a good prep which i was able to find an extremely subtle polyp to the right side of your colon, ” LaPook told a drowsy Reynolds after the procedure.

“This was possibly life-saving for you. I am not kidding. I am not being excessively dramatic. This is exactly why you need to do this, ” LaPook added.

During McElhenney’s procedure, Los Angeles gastroenterologist Dr . Leo Treyzon found three very small polyps.

“They are not a big deal but certainly a very important thing that we found them early and taken out them, ” Treyzon told the actor in recovery.

McElhenney, who acted happy he had beaten Reynolds’ single polyp, then asked the doctor what he could do to prevent a recurrence.

There is not yet good evidence that dietary changes can make a distinction, Treyzon answered, “but what does make a difference is certainly screening and security. ”

A wager turned serious

Reynolds plus McElhenney are cochairs of the Welsh Soccer club Wrexham AFC, the fifth-division soccer golf club founded in 1864 in a dying exploration town in Wales. The two invested in the club to bring existence back to the community. The particular journey inspired a docuseries on FX called “Welcome to Wrexham. ”

“You know, the heart of most sports is competition, and Rob and I think we’re pretty aggressive guys, ” Reynolds said in the video’s introduction. “We’re so competitive, in fact , that will last year Ryan and I made a wager, ” McElhenney additional.

The bet was that if McElhenney could learn to speak Welsh, Reynolds would go through a public colonoscopy.

“Did we? ” Reynolds replied innocently. “I don’t keep in mind that. ”

As McElhenney starts to explain the particular bet in Welsh, Reynolds breaks down plus admits he do make the wager.

The brand new video, made in relationship with the Colorectal Cancer Alliance and another colon cancer awareness organization, Lead Through Behind, did not show the colonoscopy treatment itself, for possibly Reynolds or McElhenney. The video only showed sedation and recovery.

In contrast, former “Today” host Katie Couric transmit her entire process within 2000 – through prep the night just before to a mildly sedated Couric watching the procedure as it unfolded.

To accomplish a colonoscopy, the gastroenterologist snakes the flexible tube capped with a tiny digital camera into the rectum plus throughout the colon to look for small growths known as polyps that can turn cancerous.

“I have a pretty little intestinal tract, ” Couric stated with a sleepy chuckle as she viewed the video projection from your scope inside her colon. “You didn’t put the scope within yet, did a person? ” asked Couric, whose husband had died from colon cancer at age 42 in 1998.

“Yes! We’re doing the evaluation. We’re almost accomplished, ” said the girl doctor Dr . Kenneth Forde, who taught for nearly 40 years at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University or college. Forde died in 2019.

As Couric’s experience showed, the procedure is relativity painless, even when awake. However , like Reynolds and McElhenney, many people are more heavily sedated and rarely wake up during a colonoscopy.

Couric posted on Reynolds’ Instagram account in response to the video: “Go Ryan! (Wait! A person already did! ) thank you for spreading the term! ”